Comments (15)

The ONLY reason the Postal Service is in financial trouble is a bill that was passed by Congress in 2006. The PAEA mandated the Postal Service to prefund it's share of it's retiree health benefits 75 years in advance within a 10-year window. No other government agency has that kind of onerus burden to bear, and no business in the private sector could remain viable as well.
If it were not for that one law, the Postal Service would actually be over $1 billion in the black and there would be no talk about reducing delivery days, closing post offices, or relaxing delivery standards.
Congress, especially the House committee charged with overseeing postal operations (chaired by Rep Darrell Issa (R-CA) has had ample opportunity to review this law and fix the problem but they haven't, mainly due to the fact they WANT to see the Post Office fail. They want to privatize the Service and the fast track is to bankrupt the agency beyond repair. We are now seeing the fruit of those labors.

Decline of first class mail has contributed some to the financial problems but the internet has been the big scapegoat... Another myth perpetrated by the forces trying to erode the public's confidence in the USPS. While some people pay their bills online and do their banking electronically, parcel volume has exploded with the advent of Amazon.com and other big internet retailers.
Eliminating Saturday mail will have dire consequences for seniors who need their medicines delivered in a timely manner. It will disrupt retailers planning big weekend sales. It will deprive people of their Netflix movies. It will drive away more business and revenue from the mail stream and cause a downward death spiral for the agency...an agency that is the second largest employer in the country (after Wal-Mart) and the driver behind the $1 trillion direct mail industry. The Postal Service is also the leading employer of veterans. It has an 80% approval rating by many public polls (compared with Congress' 9%) and is among the cheapest and most efficient postal operations in the industrialized world. Why mess with something that works?
Because the republicans in Congress see those $1 trillion dollars and want their grubby paws on YOUR money.
It is true the Postal Service doesn't use any tax dollars. All the revenue it generates is from the sale of postage and services. It doesn't make widgets. It is a service company, which explains why 80% of the money it generates goes to employee salaries. That 80% also includes the salaries of a bloated management structure, which doesn't touch the mail, improve service, or contribute to the agency's bottom line. PMG Patrick Donahoe has 37 Vice Presidents and more than a few of those bueaucrats make more in salary than many of the President's cabinet members.
We are fortunate in Connecticut to have good representatives in Congress. Jim Himes, Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal all see through the smoke and mirrors and are staunch advocates for keeping the Postal Service viable in the future.

@ Barnstorm
Well said. The only reason I brought up tax dollars is because it was one of the choices in the Poll that I thought was a little misleading. ( I don't like it, but it's better than a tax hike to keep it. ) Their health care package is excellent and the retirement fund seems to be guaranteed. It's all good for them but hurting the carriers and the people that sort the mail,.. the hourly employees.

One of the recurring myths being circulated by the right wing is that the only solution to the Post Office woes is a taxpayer bailout. Nothing could be further from the truth. Even PMG Donahoe, who has been a willing accomplice in the wholesale destruction of an institution that predates our country, has NEVER sought taxpayer money. The mentioning of taxes in regard to the Postal Service in this poll is just more misleading information designed to poison the public's perceptions.
The whole reasoning in PMG Donahoe's book has been simply, to break the unions and hire a workforce for substandard wages and minimal, if any, benefits. Widen the gap between the haves and have nots.

Whereas the health care and benefits package offered to postal employees is pretty good, it pales by comparison to CT state employees. If you compare postal wages to their closest competitors, FedEx and UPS, you'll find their drivers and delivery people make more per hour than Letter Carriers. The wages are the same across the country. A postal worker in Arkansas could live in a huge house with a comforable mortgage, where one in the Northeast might well need a second income just to keep up payments and put food on the table. Area wages have been suggested many times but never implemented.
Two separate audits have confirmed that both civil service AND federal employee retirement system retirement funds are flush with cash and the mandated PAEA payments are not needed. Congress refuses to act to repeal this burden placed on the Postal Service and simply makes off with the funds to pay for their pork. The USPS has been their cash cow since the Reagan years.
My final point. Many people have suggested that e-commerce will only grow and the Postal Service will become even more irrelevant. The direct mail industry, which accounts for almost 10% of this country's GNP, would disagree. What would happen to e-commerce if some rogue terrorist nation were to set off an EMP device in the atmosphere? If you had all your eggs in the e-basket, there goes all access to your money and accounts, as well as your ability to communicate the simplest thing. While I don't suggest such a thing is likely to occur, it does give you something to think about.
Call me a luddite, but I'll keep writing checks too.

Packages will continue to be delivered six days per week. Mail addressed to PO Boxes will continue to be delivered on Saturdays. Post Offices currently open on Saturdays will remain open on Saturdays.
The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations

I happen to ship a fair number of packages via the USPS, so I'm sad to see Saturday delivery stop. Also, since two of my banks have been hacked, I'm reluctant to pay bills via the Internet. I prefer to write a check. And it's important to note that some companies charge you extra if you pay via credit card. Also, legislation has passed to allow stores to charge you a "swipe" cost for each time you run your favorite card through their machines to pay. Isn't that special? So, I think I'll stick with cash and paying my bills via checks as long as I can.

Good to hear your perspective as always. But why does the end of Saturday delivery affect your ability to ship packages via USPS? Unfortunately the USPS is a money-losing business so they have to either raise prices or reduce spending. Would you be willing to pay higher shipping rates in order to have Saturday delivery?

I wonder how much would be saved if they simply reduced deliveries to three days a week. It would be a little less convenient but if shipping costs went down it could be worth it.

I suspect that the reduced delivery hours are just a portent of things to come. The next step will be the end of all Saturday delivery. And the services will continue to be reduced until "poof!", no more USPS. As I mentioned, I still pay most of my bills via the USPS. Often I write the checks on a Friday night and mail them on Saturday morning. That will have to change since I don't want them just sitting around in a mailbox the entire week-end.

I love the post office. I love the people who work in them. They are always friendly, helpful and efficient. The post office is a touchstone in a community. I also happen to like "snail mail" and keep handwritten letters going to friends and family. It is such a rarity now that, what was once always enjoyed, is now treasured. I, likewise, dislike the amount of wasted paper and trees that represents the constant onslaught of junk mail. Nearly every item, every day ends up in recycling. There needs to be a paradigm shift but I don't know what it is that would save the Post Office from itself.

I agree regarding junk mail. Six day per week delivery of what has become nearly all junk mail is a relic from the bygone era when there weren't fax machines or the internet. Five day junk mail delivery is more than enough. Even three days a week would be just fine, and anybody with paper documents that have to move faster can use UPS, FedEx, or maybe Express Mail. Perhaps the savings from reducing delivery to three days a week could be used to keep Post Offices open later, with the kind of hours that are nearly universal among most other non-monopoly customer-oriented businesses. The bulk of Post Offices close around 5pm and have very limited weekend hours, which makes them inaccessible to anyone who works regular hours.

Saturdays',..I'm all for it ! They could take away Wednesdays as well for residential delivery but that day flyers go out and that's their bread and butter. With a few 3 or 4 Monday holidays and no Saturday delivery, people waiting for checks should sign up for automatic deposit. I believe it's being phased in now for SSI and will be mandatory in a few years anyway.

I am so sick of getting a box full of junk mail, fliers, and unsolicited cards. Maybe there a dozen pieces of 'real' mail for my home in a month, the rest is garbage. Our letter carrier just shoves it in.

I rarely mail anything, and try to avoid the Post Offices at any cost. It's a miserable experience. All my bills are paid online - it's free, efficient, and convenient.

Online bill payment certainly is more efficient and convenient. It's also killing the postal service. It used to be that every single household had a bare minimum of five bills that had to be mailed first class every month. Online bill payment has reduced first class mail volume dramatically, and every year it drops further as more people switch to online payment. Hence the government's five or six-day per week junk mail delivery has become an anachronism.